Men's soccer team plays well, but ends up drawing with SBVC

Men's soccer team plays well, but ends up drawing with SBVC

Irvine Valley's men's soccer team continued its string of well-played matches, tying San Bernardino Valley,2-2, on Tuesday at home.

It was the fourth positive result for the Lasers in the last four contests. IVC defeated Southwestern, 5-0, San Diego Mesa, 3-2, and LA Harbor, 3-1, before the draw Tuesday.

The Lasers nearly had another victory. The team led, 2-1, after sophomore forward Benjamin Asabi's second goal of the game early in the second half.

But San Bernardino Valley scored in the 59th minute and neither squad found the back of the net again.

Irvine Valley's record went to 3-2-3 overall, while San Bernardino Valley's record moved to 5-1-1 overall.

San Bernardino Valley scored first, getting a goal in the 21st minute off. Jason Hernandez sent a cross from right to left that took a bad bounce, skipped off an IVC defender and went right to Cesar Becerra, who finished.

The Lasers started to put things together after that. Freshman forward Max Kleinhammes had a header bang off the post.

IVC tied the match in the 35th minute. Asabi was taken down just inside the top of the penalty box. He converted the penalty kick to the lower left corner.

Just before the end of the half Kleinhammes had a hard shot deflected over the top of the goal and Asabi hit a shot just wide.

Asabi put the Lasers in front 10 minutes into the second half. He took a long pass from freshman defender Juan Gomez, beat a defender down the left sideline and went straight to goal.

He struck a shot inside the near post to give IVC a 2-1 lead. The two goals on the day were Asabi's fourth and fifth of the season, which tie him for the team lead.

San Bernardino Valley's Becerra came back with a shot that Irvine Valley sophomore goalie Nathan King had to tip over the top of the goal.

And soon after, Hernandez tied the game for the Wolverines with a solid header goal off a corner kick play.

The Lasers created a few more chances the rest of the way, but couldn't find the back of the net. Their final opportunity came in extra time when Asabi was fouled outside the box.

Gomez took the free kick and hit a low, hard shot that just went wide of the goal.

King ended up making four saves on the day for Irvine Valley in the contest.

"It was a hard-fought match," IVC coach Martin McGrogan said. "San Bernadino Valley is a talented team with a good record and we were right there. We had our chances."

The Lasers play again on Friday at Norco at 3 p.m.